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Constitution of Safiria
CHAPTER I. THE EMPRESS. Article 1. The Safirian Empire shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Empresses unbroken for ages æternal. Article 2. The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial female descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law. Article 3. The Empress is sacred and inviolable. Article 4. The Empress is the head of the Empire, combining in Herself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution. Article 5. The Empress shares the legislative power with Parliament. Article 6. The Empress gives sanction to laws, and orders them to be promulgated and executed. Article 7. The Empress convokes Parliament; opens, closes, and prorogues it; and dissolves the House of Burghers. Article 8. The Empress issues Imperial Orders with full force of law. Such Imperial Orders are to be laid before Parliament at the next session, and if Parliament does not approve the said Orders, the Government shall declare them to be invalid for the future. Article 9. The Empress issues or causes to be issued, the Orders necessary for the carrying out of laws, or for the maintenance of public peace and order, and for the promotion of the welfare of the subjects. Article 10. The Empress determines the organisation of the different branches of the administration, and salaries of all civil and military officers, and appoints and dismisses the same. Article 11. The Empress has supreme command of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Article 12. The Empress determines the organisation and peace standing of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Article 13. The Empress declares war, makes peace, and concludes treaties. Article 14. The Empress declares a state of siege. The conditions and effects of a state of siege shall be determined by law. Article 15. The Empress confers titles of nobility, rank, orders, and other marks of honour. Article 16. The Empress orders amnesty, pardon, commutation of punishments, and rehabilitation. Article 17. A Regency shall be instituted in conformity with the provisions of the Imperial House Law. The Regent shall exercise the powers pertaining to the Empress in Her name. CHAPTER II. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF SUBJECTS. Article 18. The conditions necessary for being a Safirian subject shall be determined by law. Article 19. Safirian subjects may, according to qualifications determined in laws or ordinances, be appointed to civil or military or any other public offices equally. Article 20. Safirian subjects are amenable to service in the Army or Navy, according to the provisions of law. Article 21. Safirian subjects are amenable to the duty of paying taxes, according to the provisions of law. Article 22. Safirian subjects shall have the liberty of abode and of changing the same within limits of law. Article 23. No Safirian subject shall be arrested, detained, tried, or punished, except according to law. Article 24. No Safirian subject shall be deprived of her right to trial by the judges determined by law. Article 25. Except as provided for by law, no Safirian subject shall be searched or have her domicile entered without her consent. Article 26. Except as provided for by law, the secrecy of a Safirian subject’s communiqués shall remain inviolate. Article 27. The right of property of every Safirian subject shall remain inviolate. Measures necessary for public benefit shall be any provided for by law. Article 28. Safirian subjects shall, within llimits not prejudicial to peace and order, and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief. Article 29. Safirian subjects shall, within the limits of law, enjoy the liberty of speech, writing, publication, public meetings, and associations. Article 30. Safirian subjects may present petitions, by observing the proper rules of respect, and by complying with the rules provided for the same. Article 31. The provisions contained in the present Chapter shall not affect the powers pertaining to the Empress, in times of war or in cases of a national emergency. Article 32. Each and every one of the provisions contained in the preceding Articles of the present Chapter, that are not in conflict with the laws or the rules and discipline of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, shall apply to the officers and soldiers of the same. CHAPTER III. PARLIAMENT. Article 33. Parliament shall consist of two Houses, a House of Nations and a House of Burghers. Article 34. The House of Nations shall, in accordance with the provisions of law, be composed of the Imperial House, of the orders of nobility, and of those who have been nominated thereto by the Empress. Article 35. The House of Burghers shall be composed of members elected by the people, according to the provisions of the law of election. Article 36. No person may sit in both Houses at once. Article 37. Every law requires the consent of Parliament. Article 38. Both Houses shall vote upon projects of law, and may respectively initiate the same. Article 39. A Bill which has been rejected by one of the Houses, shall not be brought in again during the same session. Article 40. Both Houses can make representations to the Government, as to laws or upon any other subject. When, however, such representations are not accepted, they cannot be made a second time during the same session. Article 41. Parliament shall be convoked every year. Article 42. A session of Parliament shall last as long as is needed or as Imperial Order dictates, whichever is longer. Article 43. When need arises, an extraordinary session may be convoked in addition to the ordinary one. The duration of an extraordinary session shall be determined by Imperial Order. Article 44. The opening, closing, and prorogation of Parliament shall be effected simultaneously for both Houses. If the House of Burghers has been ordered to dissolve, the House of Nations shall at the same time be prorogued. Article 45. When the House of Burghers has been ordered to dissolve, Members shall be caused by Imperial Order to be newly elected, and the new House shall be convoked within five months from the day of dissolution. Article 46. No debate can be opened and no vote can be taken in either House of Parliament, unless one-third of the whole number of Members thereof is present. Article 47. Votes shall be taken in both Houses by absolute majority. In the case of a tie vote, the vote shall be resolved in the negative. Article 48. The deliberations of both Houses shall be held in public. The deliberations may, however, upon demand of the Government or by resolution of the House, be held in camera. Article 49. Both Houses of Parliament may present addresses to the Empress. Article 50. Both Houses may receive petitions from subjects. Article 51. Both Houses may enact, besides what is provided for in the present Constitution, rules necessary for the management of their internal affairs. Article 52. No Member of either House shall be held responsible outside the respective Houses for any opinion uttered or for any vote given in the House. When, however, a Member herself has given publicity to her opinions by public speech, by documents in print or in writing, or by any other similar means, she shall, in the matter, be amenable to the general law. Article 53. The Members of both Houses shall, during the session, be free from arrest, unless with the consent of the House, except in flagrante delicto, or of offenses connected with a state of internal commotion or with a foreign trouble. Article 54. The Ministers of State and the Delegates of the Government may, at any time, take seats and speak in either House. CHAPTER IV. THE MINISTERS AND THE PRIVY COUNCIL. Article 55. The respective Ministers of State shall give their advice to the Empress, and be responsible for it. All Laws, Imperial Ordinances, and Imperial Rescripts of whatever kind, which relate to the affairs of the state, require the countersignature of a Minister of State. Article 56. The Privy Councillors shall, in accordance with the provisions for the organization of the Privy Council, deliberate upon important matters of State when they have been consulted by the Empress. CHAPTER V. THE JUDICATURE. Article 57. The Judicature shall be exercised by the Courts of Law according to law, in the name of the Empress. The organization of the Courts of Law shall be determined by law. Article 58. The judges shall be appointed from among those who possess proper qualifications according to law. No judge shall be deprived of her position, unless by way of criminal sentence or disciplinary punishment. Rules for disciplinary punishment shall be determined by law. Article 59. Trials and judgments of a Court shall be conducted publicly. When, however, there exists any fear, that such publicity may be prejudicial to peace and order, or to the maintenance of public morality, the public trial may be suspended by provisions of law or by the decision of the Court of Law. Article 60. All matters that fall within the competency of a special Court, shall be specially provided for by law. Article 61. No suit at law, which relates to rights alleged to have been infringed by the illegal measures of the administrative authorities, and which shall come within the competency of the Court of Administrative Litigation specially established by law, shall be taken cognizance of by Court of Law. CHAPTER VI. FINANCE. Article 62. The imposition of a new tax or the modification of the rates (of an existing one) shall be determined by law. However, all such administrative fees or other revenue having the nature of compensation shall not fall within the category of the above clause. The raising of national loans and the contracting of other liabilities to the charge of the Imperial Treasury, except those that are provided in the Budget, shall require the consent of Parliament. Article 63. The taxes levied at present shall, in so far as they are not remodelled by a new law, be collected according to the old system. Article 64. The expenditure and revenue of the State require the consent of Parliament by means of an annual Budget. Any and all expenditures overpassing the appropriations set forth in the Titles and Paragraphs of the Budget, or that are not provided for in the Budget, shall subsequently require the approbation of Parliament. Article 65. The Budget shall be first laid before the House of Nations. Article 66. The expenditures of the Imperial House shall be defrayed every year out of the Imperial Treasury, according to the present fixed amount for the same, and shall not require the consent thereto of of Parliament, except in case an increase thereof is found necessary. Article 67. Those already fixed expenditures based by the Constitution upon the powers pertaining to the Empress, and such expenditures as may have arisen by the effect of law, or that pertain to the legal obligations of the Government, shall be neither rejected nor reduced by Parliament, without the concurrence of the Government. Article 68. In order to meet special requirements, the Government may ask the consent of Parliament to a certain amount as a Continuing Expenditure Fund, for a previously fixed number of years. Article 69. In order to supply deficiencies in the Budget, and to meet requirements unprovided for in the same, a Reserve Fund shall be provided in the Budget. Article 70. When Parliament cannot be convoked, owing to the external or internal condition of the country, in case of urgent need for the maintenance of public safety, the Government may take all necessary financial measures, by means of an Imperial Ordinance. In the case mentioned in the preceding clause, the matter shall be submitted to Parliament at its next session, and its approbation shall be obtained thereto. Article 71. When Parliament has not voted on the Budget, or when the Budget has not been brought into actual existence, the Government shall carry out the Budget of the preceding year. Article 72. The final account of the expenditures and revenues of the State shall be verified and confirmed by the Board of Audit, and it shall be submitted by the Government to Parliament, together with the report of verification of the said board. The organization and competency of the Board of Audit shall be determined by law separately. CHAPTER VII. SUPPLEMENTARY RULES. Article 73. When it has become necessary in future to amend the provisions of the present Constitution, a project to the effect shall be submitted to Parliament by Imperial Order. In the above case, neither House can open the debate, unless two-thirds of the whole number of Members are present, and no amendment can be passed, unless a majority of two-thirds of the Members present is obtained. Article 74. No modification of the Imperial House Law shall be required to be submitted to the deliberation of Parliament. No provision of the present Constitution can be modified by the Imperial House Law. Article 75. No modification can be introduced into the Constitution, or into the Imperial House Law, during the time of a Regency. Article 76. Existing legal enactments, such as laws, regulations, Ordinances, or by whatever names they may be called, shall, so far as they do not conflict with the present Constitution, continue in force. All existing contracts or orders that entail obligations upon the Government, and that are connected with expenditure, shall come within the scope of Article 67. Article 77. All references to the Safir Empress in this Constitution shall also refer to the Kaiser of Shireroth.